Ron's Nightmares
by xXCanadiaXx
Summary: A series of bad dreams Ron would have about Hermione over the years. *Starts in second year*
1. Second Year

**A/N: Lucid dreaming means dreaming whatever you want at any given point in time during a dream. Like daydreaming during REM.**

Ron crawled into bed. So tired... Hermione was all he could see as he fell asleep. Her glassy eyes, rock-hard skin and rigid hair. Seeing your best friend like that... Ron turned and pressed his face into his pillow. This was only a dream. Hermione would be well as soon as he woke up… Yes, she'd be wondering why his homework wasn't done as soon as he's awake…

_Ron rounded the corner at a full out run, eager to find Hermione before his charms essay was due. He needed help, and Hermione was nowhere to be found. He skidded in front of the library shortcut he didn't remember existed until now. He shouldered his way behind a tapestry into a dark hallway, which he ran through and emerged from in record time. He was standing at the corner that lead to the library, but he stopped in his tracks. _

_Hermione and a Ravenclaw girl were lying on the floor; the Ravenclaw was holding a mirror backwards, she looked frozen, and Ron registered her as Petrified. Hermione, however was limp and pale. Ron pressed his finger to the under-skin of her wrist. It was cold and pulseless. Her face was ghost-white and no sign of life or recognition went across it. _

_Ron slipped his arms underneath her and set out for the hospital wing at a press-foot speed. He turned and blundered up the stairs; he tripped and fell upwards, and Hermione fell out of his arms and onto the stair above him. _

_With a wail of anguish he picked her up again and continued to run, Hermione's glacier-cold skin chilling his arms and chest. His eyes became blurred with terrified tears as he hurtled down the corridor. Ron was so desperately focused on getting her to the hospital wing that he didn't notice Harry walking out of it. He crashed headlong into them. Harry pushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes and looked up._

_"Ron?" he asked. "What- HERMIONE?!" he stumbled over to her, touching her face and recoiling from the cold._

_"Ron?" he said slowly, turning to him. "What did you do?"_

_Ron let out a moan. Harry was right. What had he done?_

_Wait._

_He didn't do anything. He'd found her._

_One minute._

_Harry would never blame him for this. He'd listen to his side of the story. Ron must have been dreaming. So Hermione wasn't dead! He turned to her. She was beginning to stir, blood rushing to her face. Ron flew downwards to her side and raised her head off the floor. She moaned._

_"Harry?" she mumbled. "Ron?"_

_"You're okay!" Ron yowled._

_"Why are we here?"_

_"You died!"_

_Hermione gave him the most Hermione-ish look ever._

_"Obviously not." She said._

_Thank Merlin for lucid dreaming._

_"I'm dreaming." Ron said brightly. He was so happy to hear her skepticality. She sat up higher. She blinked slowly, inching closer to him. "You dreamed I died?" she asked. "And...__You saved me?" Her eyes sparkled with tears. She grabbed his collar and kissed him deeply. Then she let go of him._

_"Sorry. And thank you."_

Ron's eyes flew open. Had he really just dreamed that Hermione was dead? Was he that worried? He tried to ignore the last part of his dream. Maybe that just happened out of nowhere. Maybe it hadn't been lucid.

But again. Maybe it had.


	2. Third Year

**A/N: This scene might be a little bit unrecognised because it's lesser, but in POA Hermione goes missing for a few hours (I don't remember why.) and Ron and Harry think that Malfoy did something to her after she slapped him. Enjoy.**

Ron laid down in his four-poster. He had been relieved to see that Hermione had not been attacked by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, after she'd nearly slapped him into next week. Still, he couldn't suppress a nagging feeling that Malfoy was after her anyways.

_"Hermione?!" Ron called apprehensively down the corridor in which he'd seen her last. His voice echoed down the ominously dark hall, but nothing answered his voice but silence and wind. He started down it, focusing on finding her safely reading her books in the library rather than seeing her mangled on a carpeted stairwell, blood dripping down her face and her fingers feebly twitching. _

_Ron shook the awful thoughts from his head. He continued silently down the hall, taking a left and wishing that he had Harry beside him. Sighing, he traipsed into the library and weaved in and out of the bookshelves with a sickening fear. When Hermione wasn't there, he ducked back out and perused the hall on the way to Gryffindor Tower._

_And there he saw her. _

_She was lying weakly on the floor, tears leaking from her eyes and blood coming from her nose and mouth. She was bruised horribly, choking and coughing and spewing blood on the stairs in front of her. The only part of her that didn't look like it had been trampled by a horse was her face. It was shining with tears and her eyes were glassy and dull. There was a cut on her lip and one around her left eye in a crescent moon shape. _

_"Hermione?" he asked weakly. She stirred lightly, murmuring,_

_"No... Please... stop... I'm sorry..."_

_"Hermione, it's me. Ron."_

_"Ron." She whispered, as though his name would send her careening into the wind._

_"Don't move," he muttered. She'd hurt herself."Who did this?" he asked, with a feeling that he knew all to well who._

_"Malfoy." She whimpered, eyes closing._

_A dusky feeling of rage and hatred welled up inside him, determined to kill Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and all other Slytherins. He lifted her slowly. Her head lolled and bumped against his chest. She coughed. _

_"Put me down, Ron." She growled. Ron started._

_"Why?" he asked._  
_"I don't want to go to the hospital wing." She whispered. Ron started walking with a snarl._

_"You're talking nonsense." He said darkly. She began to flail feebly in his arms, not a powerful effort, but it startled Ron so much he leapt backwards and she slipped out of his arms. She landed with a thud on the floor._

_"Hermione!" Ron squeaked, dropping to his knees next to her. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Why do you keep hurting yourself like this?"_

_"Because... I don't think I can get better."_

_"I do!" Ron yelled."Madam Pomfrey can fix you!"_

_"Ron..." she whispered, "They put a jinx on me. These wounds –ach- these won't heal." _

_"So, they'll just keep bleeding?" _

_She nodded sickly. Her face was growing paler. Her blood, as Ron became aware, was soaking his arms, chest and belly. _

_"Ill find the counter-curse! I won't let you go!" Ron wailed. A tear leaked down his check. Seeing her sick like this made him feel helpless and stupid._

_"I can't let you go." He whispered, ducking his head so that his long ginger hair fell into his face and shadowed his eyes. A look of pained effort crossed her face as she lifted her arm and stroked his face. It fell onto his knee. He took it, feeling the clammy hand._

_"I'll miss you, Ron. I really will. You and Harry." _

_A feeling of burning jealousy flooded his insides at the sound of Harry's name. _

_"I'm sorry this happened to you." Ron whispered. _

_"I hope I get to see you soon." She whimpered. _

_"I'll miss you."_

_"I'll miss you too."_

_"..."_

_"Ron?"_

"Yes?"

_"Take care of yourself."_

_Ron let out a wail of misery. He was going to kill Malfoy if it was the last thing he did. She squeezed his hand. Ron looked at her. Her breathing was slowing; face growing paler with every breath. Slowly, Ron brought his tear soaked face down to hers. Their lips touched briefly, and then he drew back. _

_She let go of her life with one last shattering breath, and Ron let out a howl of anguish. She had slipped through his fingers, and he had given up on bringing her to the hospital wing, giving her one last chance. He traced her face with one hand, the other entangled in hers. He kissed her again, wishing he hadn't let her go..._

Ron flew awake with a wail of fear.

"Hermione!" he called. He heard a rustling next to him. He was back in his dorm, Harry snoring softly next to him. He lay back down, knowing he would not get back to sleep tonight.


	3. Fourth Year

Ron was just getting to sleep when he felt a hand shaking him awake roughly.

"Ron!" he heard a whisper, frantic and teary. "Ron, please wake up!"

It was Hermione, Ron registered. She sounded upset and desperate. He rolled around and looked at her. Her face was shining with tears.

"Whazz wrong?" he asked tiredly, words slurred with sleep. "Wha'are you doin' 'ere?" Hermione relaxed and slipped onto the floor.

"Oh, Ron, I had a terrible nightmare, I had to see if you were okay."

Ron gave a groggy groan and rolled back over. Silence. Then-

"Can I stay here? With you?" Ron took a moment to realise what she had said. Then he looked at her. Her eyes were pleading.

"Please, Ron? I need to assure myself you're okay."

Maybe it was because he was sleepy. Maybe it was because of her teary eyes and frightened tone. Or maybe it was just because he felt so eneavoured to keep her safe because of his own terrifying nightmares. But he moved over as far as he could without falling off his bed and felt the bed bounce as Hermione climbed in.

"Thanks, Ron. You're so thoughtful."

Ron gave a tired grunt and nodded a little. Hermione gave a tiny sigh and relaxed against him. Ron felt an odd surge of protectiveness and slowly turned over to face her. Her curly hair was falling all around her face, which was slack with contentment and drowziness. Ron felt a bit flattered that Hermione had dreamed about him, but horrified that she had dreamed somthing so awful happened to him she needed to share his bed. He laid flat on his back and looked at her. He snaked his fingers into hers and gave her hand a light squeeze. Then a memory came fluttering back into his mind. One that made him sit bolt upright in his bed. Hermione jumped and looked up at Ron; his lips were peeled back in a digusted snarl.

"What?" She asked, Ron could tell she had just been falling asleep.

"Why didn't you look to _Vicky _for comfort, huh?" He growled menacingly. Hermione looked at him with a defined look of steely defiance. Then it melted into a look of concern.

"Oh, Ron." she said, so honey-soft Ron forgot his anger. "When will you learn that it's not him I care about? It's - " she sighed, a tiny smile tugging the corners of her lips,

"It's you."

She squeezed the hand Ron forgot he was holding, then moved slowly closer to him. Ron's heart sped up, a flush rising in his cheeks. He knew what was coming. He braced himself, not knowing what he was going to do. Then, Hermione appeared to think better of herself, and laid back in Ron's bed. Heartbeat still raging, Ron lay down, still holding her hand.

_Ron woke up a few minutes later, looking around for Hermione, who was no longer in his bed. he got up slowly, yawining groggily. Harry rushed past him, wailing in fear. _

_"It's the first task today!"_

_Ron could have sworn that that already happened, but threw on some clothes and ran down the stairs to the Great Hall. It was buzzing with excitement. After breakfast, everyone began to file out of the Hall and down the great stone steps to the Quidditch pitch. He kept an open eye for Hermione, who he had not seen all morning. He sat down in the bleachers, looking for the bushy head he knew only too well. The applause was tumultous as Harry stepped onto the pitch, where the dragon and its eggs were waiting for him. Ron watched as Harry jumped and yelled, pointing at the pile of eggs in the nest. The dragon was firing jets of flame at him, but that was not what Ron was looking at at all. A girl was sitting, terrified, yelling at Harry and waving her arms._

_Hermione._

_Harry was yelling back, and then raised his wand arm and bellowed, _

_"ACCIO BROOM!"_

_Ron ducked as Harry's broom came hurtling down moments later, whizzing past his ear. Harry leapt onto his broom and flew towards Hermione, arm extended for hers, missing it my centimeters as the dragon snapped at Harry's arm, causing him to fly upwards. Ron watched in horror as the dragon sniffed at the air above, then below it, then shot a piercing glare at Hermione. It opened its mouth. Hermione cowered as Ron realised what the dragon was going to do to her._

_A mother dragon is extremely protective. And Hermione was sitting in her nest. A jet of fire escaped the dragon's mouth and blew straight at Hermione, missing the top of her head by inches as she flattened herself to the rocks. Ron bit his lip and drew blood as he noticed Harry circling the dragon in the air, not noticing that the dragon was not paying attention to him. Ron yelled in shock as the dragon shot another flame at Hermione, this one skimmed her face; her scream sent a chill down Ron's spine. Unable to take it anymore, Ron leapt up from his seat, pushing through the crowd down to the pitch. Spectators yelled angrily, but Ron didn't care. He jumped off the seats, onto the rocky floor of the pitch. The impact sent a jolt through him, which he ignored, stumbling over to Hermione, who was curled on the floor, wailing in pain and fear._

_"Hermione!" Ron said, aching with relief. She looked up, her dull eyes sparking alight. He bent down and hugged her tight. He pulled back, and took her hands, trying to pull her up. She took a step forwards, but her left leg tripped her and sent her careening into him._

_""R-Ron." She gasped. "I'm t-tied down.'_

_Ron peered behind her, she was indeed correct. Her ankle was tied to a metal peg int the ground. He slid his hands out of hers and moved aound her, looking back as he heard her crumple to the ground weakly. He grabbed the ring of rope around the peg and tugged up. The ring rose easily. But so did the peg. The peg grew higher with every pull Ron gave. He pulled it lower. The peg shrank. Ron yelled in frustration, pulling it up and down wildly, trying to outsmart it. He couldn't._

_"RON!" Hermione screeched; Ron turned around and saw that the dragon was about to fire at her again. Ron leapt forwards and wrapped his arms around her, his back to the dragon. The approaching heat warmed his back, and then a dragon gave a roar of fury and the heat died away. Ron let go of Hermione and turned around. The dragon was roaring at Harry, who had connected a spell with it's nose. Hermione grabbed Ron back, clutching him with one arm on his shoulder and the other on the back of his knee, pulling him closer. He grabbed her too, holding her in a sort of hug._

_"What's Weasley doing down there?!" Ron heard Ludo Bagman's voice clearly for the first time. And it ruined his life. "No assistance to the champion!" _

_"I'M NOT HELPING HARRY!" Ron yelled; a magical force pulled him into the air, untangling him from Hermione._

_"NO! PLEASE! LET ME PROTECT HER! DON'T LEAVE HER! SHE'LL DIE! PLEASE!"_

_The force put him back in his seat, tying him down with light ropes. Ron watched in horror as he regretted shouting more than he ever had in his life. The shouts drew the dragon's attention back to where Hermione was sitting, and it fired at her._

_The fire connected directly._

_Hermione's screams rang though the pitch, echoing, ringing, rippling. And then they died away. So did the flames. Ron screamed as he saw Hermione lying dead on the rocky ground. He buried his head in his hands._

_He wished more than ever that the Tournament had never come to Hogwarts._

Ron woke up with a gasp. Hermione's head was resting on his chest, her hair splaying all over him. He'd never been so happy to see her. He stroked her face with his thumb.

Hermione woke up with a yawn and a stretch. She sat up, peered around and looked at Ron, who sat up and looked at her.

"I'm glad to see you're okay." they said in unison.

"Ron?"  
"Hermione?"

They both blushed and looked away from each other.

"Hermione?" Ron asked, turning back to look at her. The moment she turned and looked at him, he delivered a swift kiss to her lips.

"Ron-"

"Don't let anyone tie you down." Ron cut across her, and got up out of his bed. Hermione followed.

"Er- Thanks for letting me stay."

"No problem." Ron said, not meeting her eye.

She delivered a peck to his cheek, and swept out of the dormintory. Ron stared after her, wondering how many more of these nightmares he could take.


	4. Fifth Year (Beware The Awfulness)

That night, when Ron climbed into bed, he was shivering madly with fear and discomfort. The Room of Requirement battle had scared Ron into desperation and mad shivers. He wanted his friends with him at every given point in time. He didn't want to be alone. He was scared, scared they'd come back. It was petty and foolish, yes, but Ron was still scared. He looked over the edge of his bed to see Hermione, still unconscious, breathing rapidly. The welts on his arms from the brain's tendrils stung painfully, and they limited the ways he lie down to on his stomach and his back. Resting touchily on his back, he looked over at Harry, on his left side, and Hermione again, on his right. He had long forgotten the small kisses they had shared in Ron's dormitory last year, and he looked at her with a sort of desperate longing.

Desperate for her to wake up.

Desperate for her to be okay.

Desperate for her to recognize him. To need him.

He ignored the stinging pain in his arms as he lifted himself up and kneeled by her bed.

"Hermione?" he asked. "I know you can't hear me, but I miss you. I want you to wake up. Please. I need you." He watched her for a moment, her breathing steady and raspy. Then he went back to his own bed, watching her sleep for a while longer before nodding off.

Little did he know, Hermione was very much awake.

_Ron was on his way down the long corridor with the rows and jars of brains and body parts. He flung his way into the main door hall, where Harry, Hermione and Neville were in fierce combat. Ginny was lying on the floor with a sickened face, clutching her ankle very hard. Ron's attention snapped back to Hermione, who was battling two Death Eaters with a look of fierce determination etched upon her face. Ron leapt in beside her, throwing a 'Stupefy' that missed by barely inches. Ron ducked a well-placed 'Crucio!' and shot a silent spell –Jelly-Legs- behind his back. That hit, and the Death Eater reeled around the room, wobbling hither and thither until his comrade hit him with a 'Finite Incantatem!' and he stood, wobbling a little, shooting horrid spells all around. Hermione's attacker flicked his wrist up, and yelled a spell that Ron didn't recognise. A flickering purple flame shot across the whole of her torso and she shrieked. _

_To Ron, she fell in slow-motion, her eyes closing slowly, her body falling with her hair billowing all over her face like a pleasant wind was blowing it. _

_And Ron just stood there. He watched her fall with a terrified expression on his face. He looked around him, terror growing, and watched Harry and Neville battling, not noticing that Hermione was dying next to him. Ron sat on the ground next to her, eyeing her face with a look of terrified worry, fearing she was dead. _

_Wake up!" he yelled at her. And then a spell shot him in the back. Dead-on target. Ron fell next to Hermione, face screwed up as a burning pain spread through him. He watched Hermione's face with a feeling of dread and longing. _

_"Wake up!" he yelled again, this time through his gritted teeth as the pain reached his arms and legs, immobilising him, burning him, killing him... _

_And then something that made the pain recede and dulled it down to a pointless murmur in the back of his head._

_Hermione's eyes had flickered open._

_They were dull. Bland. Like there was no life left in her. _

_"Hermione?" Ron asked cautiously. Hermione's eyes slowly focused on him._

"Ron?" she whispered. "It hurts." She whimpered.

"I know." He said. "But you have to fight it. Please."

"I can't." She whined pitifully. "Ron, I can't, it hurts so much."

_Ron sat up with all his might and looked around. The Death Eaters they had been fighting seemed to think they were dead and were fighting Harry and Neville; one was even covering Ginny, who was yelling curses though gritted teeth. He felt guilty for a second, but the feeling quickly dulled as he looked back at Hermione's limp form. She was blubbering incessantly. Ron touched her shoulder. _

_"Please, Hermione, you have to fight, you have to push through the pain, I can't _live _without you." Ron said sullenly. She was so feeble and pale that he felt an urge to shake her and yell, 'Please, for the love of Merlin, wake up, I need you!'_

_But he didn't. And he solely wished he had._

_"You can. You don't need me." She paled as all of her effort went into putting her and on his knee. He held it._

"Yes, I do." Ron pleaded. "Please, stay awake, I lo-" he stopped as her eyes softened with interest.

"You what?" she asked, squeezing his hand.

He bent his head and whispered,

"Hermione. I need you to stay awake because... because I love you." 

_There. He'd said it. After a spell of four years, He'd told her how he felt about her. She smiled._

_"I have ...some... something to tell you." Her breaths were coming faster now. Ron realized with a jolt that she'd been dying all this time. "Come... closer." _

_He leaned into her, and she captured his lips in hers. He put one arm across the other side of her body, bending lower and deeper into the kiss. This was what he wanted. Not for her to die. If she died, he'd never get this again. He pulled back quickly._

"Hermione. You can't let go now! Not now that you know-"

_"Sh. Ron, I –ow- I know I can't stay here. I just wanted to know, what you wanted."_

"I want you!" Ron pleaded, watching her slip away right in front of him, and he was powerless. He didn't know what she'd been hit with, he couldn't help her. So he leaned down and kissed her again. It was his only hope of giving her a will to live. But he felt a breath escape her lips, warming his own. 

_And he knew she was gone._

Ron's eyes opened. Remembering his other dreams, compared with them this one wasn't bad at all. But hearing Hermione say she didn't want to live, and knowing that his love wasn't enough to keep her awake. He looked over at her. She was resting sweetly in her bed. He knew that he loved her. He _knew._ But he couldn't tell her.

Not yet.

**A/N: This chapter was crappy! C-R-A-P-P-Y! In apology, I'll upload the next chapter today! Woohoo! Because that really sucked. It wasn't a nightmare, it was a bad dream. I just can't find anything else in OOTP that would scar Ron for life. Ugh. I'm disgusted with myself. Don't look at me. Go. Just go.**


	5. Sixth Year

Ron clambered into bed in an awful mood that night, wondering what had been going through his head when he'd gotten together with Lavender. Now he knew exactly what she wanted from him. She just wanted someone to kiss. She treated him like a human punching-bag, but for snogging. She must've gotten tired of kissing the bathroom wall, Ron decided, rolling over. The worst part was, he'd lost his friendship with Hermione.

He wanted _her._ Not Lavender. He'd wanted to make Hermione love him more. He'd wanted to make her jealous. Make her take him aside and kiss him and run her hands through his hair and tell him he was all she ever wanted. But it had made her ignore him forever, and he couldn't dump Lavender now. It would make him look like he enjoyed breaking girls' hearts. He burrowed his face into his pillow and tried to push girls to the back of his mind.

Love was a powerful emotion.

_"Oh, Won Won, _tell_ me again how much you love me."_

_Ron's heart wrenched as he watched Hermione pass by in front of him. Lavender's nails dug into his arm as she followed his gaze._

_"M-more than anything, Lav." He stuttered. She squealed and burrowed her face into his neck._

_"I love you too!" she squeaked. Hermione shot him a disgusted look and turned to go up her dormitory._

"_Wait!" he called after he, leaping up and throwing Lavender off. She yelled._

_"Hey!" she said. "Keep going." Lavender growled._

_"No!" Ron yelled, pushing Lavender off. "Please, wait!"_

_Hermione stopped and stepped back down the stairs, turning to him. Lavender turned him around so he would face her._

_"Ron..." Lavender snarled. "What were you going to tell her?"_

_Ron's anger boiled him as he whispered back,_

_"That I love her."_

_Lavender screeched angrily and rushed towards Hermione, grabbing her by the shoulders and flinging her to the floor. Hermione yelled in shock. Lavender bent down and punched her in the face. Ron leapt forwards and threw Lavender off of Hermione._

_"What are you doing?" he yowled._

_"She stole you from me. SHE TOOK YOUR LOVE FROM ME!"_

_Hermione stood up, brushing her arms and gazing at Lavender with terrified eyes._

_"Don't touch me!" She yelled._

_Lavender pushed Ron off and pulled out her wand._

_"PROTEGO!" Ron was thrown backwards quite a bit, and Lavender stalked circles around Hermione, swearing at her._

_"NO!" Ron yelled. "NO! DON'T HURT HER!"_

_"Not until you admit you love me more!" Lavender yelled back. Hermione cowered backwards in a corner, shielding her face. Ron could have said it, easily. But somehow the words wouldn't come to his lips. He made a choking noise and Lavender roared._

_"YOU DO LOVE HER MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME!" she yelled, turning and slapping Hermione across the face, to the ground. She brandished her wand again, shooting a smirk at Ron before yelling,_

_"CRUCIO!"_

_Hermione screamed. That was all. Ron couldn't begin to describe the awful screaming sound ringing in his ears. Ron's heart strained to hear her in such pain._

_"Okay, Lavender!" Ron yelled. Lavender stopped torturing Hermione in an instant, turning around to face him._

_"Really?" she squeaked, swiping away the protection spell and rushing into Ron's arms. Hermione lapsed into sobs behind Lavender's back. Lavender drew back from him._

_"Prove it." She whispered. "Prove you love me more than her."_

_"How?" Ron asked, worried._

_"Kill her."_

_The words echoed in Ron's ears._

_"No!" he yelped, jumping back._

_"Kill her!" Lavender said, louder. "Kill her or I swear I'll kill you!"_

_Ron peered at Hermione. She looked horrified. She stood up. Ron walked around Lavender and stood face to face with Hermione._

_"Do it." She said. "I can't watch you die." She gave him an approving smile, though her eyes were full of tears._

_"I don't want to kill you." Ron said firmly. "Lavender, this is ridiculous."_

_Lavender shot him a disapproving look. "If you can't prove that it's me you want and not her..." She brandished her wand._

"_Ron, please." Hermione pleaded._

_"If I can't have you, no one can." Lavender snarled, raising her wand._

_"RON!" Hermione screamed. "Just do it! I won't be able to watch you die at her hands." _

_"NO!" he yelled back, taking a step towards her. "I'd rather die than spend my life without you!" _

_"Ron," she said patiently, "Do it. Or I will."_

_""Nope!" Lavender said gleefully. "Unless he does it, it won't count!"_

_"Please, Ron. I want you to." Hermione's voice was choked with tears. Ron was on the brink of them himself as he drew out his wand._

_"Can I say goodbye?" He asked Lavender pleadingly. "I mean, she is my friend." Lavender gave a nod. Ron stepped towards her._

_"I'm glad to call you my friend." She said mournfully. Ron said nothing, just cast a protective spell behind him and seized Hermione's shoulders, pressing their lips together. Lavender gave an outraged shriek of protest behind them, but Ron wasn't listening. He was absorbed in Hermione, the way she ran her hands through his hair like she wanted him forever; how she smelled; how her body fit perfectly to his. __He pulled her closer, loving the thrill that Lavender could never give him..._

_"ENOUGH!" Lavender howled. The spell had wavered because Ron was off guard. Lavender grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him away._

_"DO IT!" She growled. Ron raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione._

_"I'm sorry." He said._

_"I love you." She said back; Lavender snarled and jabbed Ron._

_He drew breath and shut his eyes._

_"Avada Kedavra"_

Ron's eyes flew open and he flung himself out of bed, hurtled down the stairs and to those of the girl's dorm. He started up, and grabbed the banister as it turned into a slide; he used it to help him inch up the stairs. He quickly opened the dorm labelled "Sixth Years." Hermione was the first bed from the door. He drew back the curtains and peered at her sleeping face. She looks content, Ron thought. He closed her hangings and wrote something on a scrap of parchment on her bedside table and tiptoed out, shutting the door quietly behind him.

HERMIONE POV

Hermione opened her hangings the next morning and spotted a slip of parchment that she was sure she hadn't marked before. She picked it up.

'_I'm sorry'_

**A/N: Yay! This one is better. R&R!**


	6. Last Year

**Final Chapter! Woohoo! I love you ALL! R&R! Please...? (Insert sappy pleas here.)**

Ron sat by the bed Hermione was lying in at Shell Cottage, unconscious. Her skin was pale and cold and her beautiful brown eyes were shaded by her eyelids. Her usually neat, although bushy, hair was falling into her face, shading it from his view. She had been hideously tortured and Ron didn't know what had been happening to her until he and Harry had been able to escape the dungeon.

"Hermione?" he whispered. She didn't stir. "'Mione? Can you, can you here me?" Not one movement. Ron moaned.

"Please! Get up!" He put his head on her bed sheets, sobbing into the soft linen covering her still body.

_Ron didn't remember falling asleep, but as he raised his head he found himself on the cold stone floor of Malfoy Manor. Startled, he jumped up, looking wildly around for Hermione, who had been lying in a bed not a few hours ago._

"_Over 'ere, 'andsome." Said a rough, gravelly voice. Ron looked behind him to catch the source of the voice, before a rough hand seized handfuls of his hair and flung him to the wall, where a pair of hands flew around his neck and pulled him close. When she released him, Ron saw that it was Hermione, her face tear-stained and puffy. Nonetheless, she gave him a watery smile and said,_

"_I'm glad you're here." Pulling her close again, Ron whispered_

"_Where would I be without you?"_

"_Ohh, how cute, does the little boy love his little girlfriend?" sneered a delighted voice behind them. Ron looked up. There stood Bellatrix LeStrange, smiling mockingly at the two, who clutched each other, Ron snarling in disgust. _

"_I don't suppose either of you two would tell me where your friend is?" she asked, lips pursed like Professor Mcgonagall_'s.

"_F-friend?"_ _Asked Hermione tearfully. "Harry?"_

"_Yes, dear little Potter." She said mockingly, flicking her wand carelessly and surrounding them in an exceptionally warm feeling that radiated from all sides. "Neither of you is leaving until I have his location." They clutched each other tighter and Ron gave Bellatrix a nasty stare._

"_No?" she asked, pouting. "Well... I suppose, to loosen your filthy Mudblood tongue..." She said, reaching through the heat (Like a boss) and snatching Hermione's collar and pulling her away from Ron, who felt agony stab him. _

"_You let her go." He growled, his voice shaking with the effort to keep it steady. He reached out to grab her back, but what seemed like fire scorched his fingers as far as he dared plunge them into the wall of heat. Yelling, he snatched them back, peering at them. _

_They were quite undamaged. _

_Suppressing a snarl, Ron watched in horror as Hermione was flung to the tiles without mercy._

_"Do you know where Potter is?!" screamed Bellatrix, sounding deranged._

_"N- no." Hermione whimpered._

"_LIAR! You tell me where he is, and I'll let you go!"_

_"I don't know! I swear!" said Hermione wetly. Bellatrix slapped her to the floor and Ron swallowed a surge of rage that billowed in his throat like bile._

_"LET HER GO!" Ron yelled. Bellatrix turned to him like a cat that had just spotted a fat mouse. She sneered at him, and then turned away. She pointed her wand at Hermione, who cowered against the tiles._

_"TELL ME!"_

_"I DON'T KNOW!"_

_"Crucio!" Bellatrix yowled. Hermione twisted and writhed on the shiny stone floor. She screeched in pain and agony, twisting and shrieking._

_"STOP!" she choked out, then continued to yell, a high pitched, unnatural sound that made his insides writhe in horror. Bellatrix lifted the charm lazily. "Will you tell me?" She asked, slipping her wand back into her belt. Ron sighed in relief._

"_Or are you going to keep LYING TO ME?!" she screeched, drawing out a silver knife._

_"I don't know." Said Hermione weakly, lying bent over on the floor with her hair framing her face. Bellatrix seized her by the hair, holding the knife to the soft skin of Hermione's throat. She pressed it in a bit, beads of blood welling up on the flat blade._

_"AGH! Please stop hurting her!" Ron yelled, jumping up and leaping into the wall of heat to save her, ready to take on the pain, and being thrown back by some invisible force. Bellatrix pressed in the blade on Hermione's screaming throat. Ron wanted to ask her to just tell Bellatrix where Harry was, but he himself had no Idea, so how would she._

"_Useless little rat." Said Bellatrix carelessly, splicing her throat with a quick knife movement. Hermione's screams were cut short as Bellatrix released her bloody body and letting her sink to the tile. Ron's heart melted, Hermione might be still alive, she might still be breathing, the pain in his heart was wrenching, he screeched in pain as he watched Bellatrix kick Hermione aside and disappear downstairs._

Hermione's soft hand was on Ron's bent head when he woke up shivering and screaming the next morning.

"Are you okay?" She croaked sickly. He raised his head to see her eyes glimmering in fear at the sight of him. A small scar ran across her neck where Bellatrix had pressed in her blade earlier that week. He sighed in relief at the fact that there was nothing worse wrong with her than that, and he touched the scar, tracing it before letting his hand drop to Hermione's lap and saying,

"Hermione. Don't you ever go anywhere without me."

She looked affronted, as though he was suggesting that she couldn't do anything herself.

"No, not like that. I don't ever want you out of my sight. Where would I be without you?"

She hugged him. Squeezing him, she whispered in his ear.

"Only if you promise to let me ward away your nightmares."

**I know, it wasn't the best, but hey, I did as best I could. R&R!**


End file.
